When people talk about Slade’s legendary live album Slade Alive!, the usual suspects come to mind: Hear Me Calling, Get Down and Get With It, Darling Be Home Soon and, of course, that raucous version of Born to Be Wild. But there’s another song from the same era that could easily have found a home on the album, Comin’ Home.
The Delaney & Bonnie and Friends song was written by Bonnie Bramlett, Delaney Bramlett and Eric Clapton, with Clapton featuring on their recording. It was released in 1969 on Delaney & Bonnie’s album On Tour with Eric Clapton.
What makes the story particularly intriguing is that Slade actually performed the song during this early-’70s period, and a rare television performance from 1971 has survived. The footage, believed to have been recorded for Belgian television, captures the band in their pre-superstardom days, with Noddy Holder, Dave Hill, Jim Lea and Don Powell sounding every bit as muscular and energetic as they did on Slade Alive!.
The tantalising part is that the surviving clip reportedly begins with an indication that Comin’ Home was intended for Slade Alive! Yet when the album appeared, the song was nowhere to be found. Slade Alive! was recorded over three consecutive nights in October 1971 at London’s Command Theatre Studio, in front of an audience. It was released in March 1972, eventually becoming one of the band’s most celebrated albums. It was also a major success, reaching #1 in Australia and #2 in the UK. In Australia it was the biggest-selling album since The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967.
So why was Comin’ Home left off? Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be a definitive documented explanation. That uncertainty is part of the song’s appeal. For Slade collectors, the surviving television performance (below) is something of a musical time capsule, serving as a tantalising glimpse of what might have been an extra highlight on one of rock’s great live albums.
Perhaps that’s why Comin’ Home remains such a fascinating little piece of Slade history: a song that almost made it onto Slade Alive!, but somehow slipped through the net.
Here’s a colourised version of the video featuring Slade:
From Slade Alive! on Bang a Gong:
Darling Be Home Soon
Get Down and Get With It
Hear Me Calling
Keep On Rocking
DELANEY & BONNIE AND FRIENDS
Single version – Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, featuring Eric Clapton: Comin’ Home
Live album version – Delaney & Bonnie and Friends On Tour with Eric Clapton (1970):
The album features Delaney and Bonnie’s best-known touring band, including Eric Clapton, Jim Gordon, Carl Radle, Bobby Whitlock and Dave Mason.
Delaney & Bonnie & Friends live in 1969:
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